Prairie Dogs (open)

N0X

Well-Known Member
Chicago looked way different than in the pleasing brochures. Who knew these were the circumstances which she'd be visiting.

As she checked herself out in a tall, broken mirror, Jade had to admit it.... she looked really good in black leather. The way they hugged her curves in just the right way. Biker chick, was her new identity, apparently. The military had even given her a nice, dented, dirty old motorcycle to go along with it. She didn't care enough to know the make and model, but her superiors had drilled her on the basic details for the sake of her character. It was some of the most boring stuff. The objective might've been simple, but Jade still hadn't become accustomed to the tedium of her job. When it came down to tracking down potential METAs on a long list of vaccinated patients, patience was key, which wasn't exactly one of her strong suits.

Equipped with a rile on her back, two pistols in her jacket, ammunition and rations in her bag, a knife in her belt, and daggers that were hidden in each boot, she was ready for anything. Jade inhaled a breath of smoke, savoring the dopamine rush from the nicotine, and stepped on the cigarette. She tucked the scarf in and zipped up the jacket before walking out of the once a local-hot-spot-now-abandoned-bar towards the bike. There weren't too many zombies out and about, but the few that were were quick to take notice of her presence. They began to drool all over themselves like ravenous dogs pursuing a squirrel as they heard Jade's footsteps in tune to the beating of her (mostly) human heart. Abandoned.

"Fancy a taste?" she asked them, knowing they were incapable of responding. "Come and get it." Jade took her time putting on the helmet and mounting the dented bike as they shuffled towards her, then revved the engine and took off; she was only lucky there weren't any Runners around. Riding through i-94, Jade never could get over the rush of speeding past hundreds, sometimes thousands of zombies with rock and roll songs blaring inside her headgear.

Jade heard the explosion over the music and felt the tremblings through the motorbike as she rode. A plume of fire and ash reflected off of the vizer as it rose over the city. Ah, Fudgcicle! She saw it before she could hit the breaks to slow down, and the front wheel of the bike caught a fresh crack on the highway, propelling Jade forward. Only experience allowed her to relax her muscles, bend body, and covered her head with her arms; she braced herself as her body began to bounce and roll, and Jade could hear the scraping and cracking of her helmet against the cement as the rock song still played. Jade laid on her back, sprawled out, and in pain, but heard more blasts up ahead. Then there was the cry. A piercing screech that signaled a berserk metazombie on the loose. And the popping of shots from a gunfight. An AK-47. by the sound of it.

Jade slowly and grudgingly dragged herself up and pushed herself off the ground with a groan. There was damage, but not critical, and she could still walk, if sorely. The sounds of shuffling around alerted her to the fact that there were still other zombies on her tail, and as she looked around, there they were. Son of a biznatch... Jade moved with a purpose towards the blast when a bulky bloated body rampaged down the highway... in her direction.... on fire! "Shut the front door!" Jade zapped out of the way just as it rammed into a dirty old red Prius, sending it flying into a building, and people ran past. Jade peeked out from behind an old white van behind which she hid holding a gun close to her head. What the heckie?
 
Seulgi trudged her way through the wooded area surrounding the Chicago suburbs, carefully making her way between the trees, knees bent to soften her footsteps. It was strangely peaceful, the birds chirped above her, the leaves gently rustled as the branches of the trees swayed in the wind, there was even a creek nearby, filling the air with the symphony of running water. The sun streamed through the gaps between the leaves, shining on sections of her face and hair, leaving her skin warm and soothed. She paused before smiling, gazing up at the sections of sky she could see through the cover of the trees.

Her peaceful walk was interrupted by a familiar growl. She looked over her shoulder and was greeted by a single zombie. She sighed. Only a walker... She thought to herself, pulling her knife from her boot. As she straightened her back and turned to the zombie, it growled once more, saliva dripping from its decaying jaw as it stumbled towards her. It picked up the pace until it's clumsy stumble became a full-on sprint, tearing through the air as it lunged at her. She had no time to react, no time to turn and run, it pinned her, clawing at her hair as it's blunt teeth sank into her neck. She couldn't scream as it tore chunks from her throat, her fingers trying to grasp its decomposing flesh to defend herself. She felt the air leave her lungs as her eyes stared up at the trees above her, her mouth agape.

She let out a gasp as she awoke, finding herself staring at the decaying ceiling of an old, now abandoned, hotel lobby. She slowly pushed herself up, rubbing her eye with the palm of her hand as she tried to clear her vision.
"Good morning," Pandora smiled, looking over her shoulder at her as she sharpened her combat knife. "Sleep well?"
Seulgi simply shrugged in response, stretching her neck from side to side and wincing a little as the bandage pulled on her wound. Pandora shuffled over, gently peeling back the gauze wrapped around Seulgi's neck.
"It's looking better." She told her with a smile, but Seulgi frowned.
"No, it doesn't." She signed in response.
"You can't see it, you don't know," Pandora replied as she began to replace the bandage with a clean one.
"If I don't heal anymore then it can't look better." Seulgi retorted.
"How do you know you don't heal anymore? It's not been that long." Pandora muttered, methodically working on her wound.

The two almost jumped out of their skin at the sound of an explosion.
"Stay down," Pandora commanded, peaking over the top of the receptionist's counter at the glass front doors. It was a little difficult to see through their barricade but they'd left a gap near the top to serve as a lookout spot. Seulgi peered out into the street, her eyes widening as a whole prius was flung in their direction. She grabbed Pandora and pulled her down, covering her head as the two braced for impact. The building shook as one of the upper floors was impacted by the car. They could feel each footstep of the metazombie as the ground trembled.
"We need to move, now." Pandora muttered, keeping her voice low. She pulled Seulgi to her feet and grabbed their bags, using the staff exist to enter the alleyway.
 
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In Chicago, things were getting worse by the day. Those who had been able to get a vaccine stayed in the QZ that it was administered to them in, but some decided to return home as Reese had. However, not everyone had been able to get the vaccine which meant that the complex Reese lived in became more and more infested as each day passed. It had been a while since she had last left her apartment, so she wasn't sure how serious the damage was. That being said, the only sounds ever heard from above or next door to her were shuffling, items falling, and soft grumbles that seemed to barely be loud enough to even reach her.

After a couple of months of this belligerent silence, Reese decided it was time to head into a QZ, or at least find somewhere safer to stay. Her appearance could be confounding to those within the safe zones, and her body's state of decay might keep her from being allowed in such places. When she had originally returned home after receiving the vaccine, some of her living neighbors seemed repulsed by her, and they all stop attempting to communicate her. It was an odd thing, knowing that you're still the person you had always been yet seeing someone who looks nothing like you in the mirror. Of course, to her, it was just the way she looked now, but she could understand the frightened nature of those who weren't expected to see someone who looked like the undead. She hoped this wouldn't bar her from getting accepted into a QZ since her symptoms hadn't progressed at all since the vaccine had been administered to her. However, she had gained new abilities that she was still attempting to get the hang of. Her sense of smell becoming stronger was one of those abilities; it's part of how she knew those in the rooms around her were no longer here. Dead people smelled far different than living.

Reese grabbed a knapsack from her closet and began collecting supplies to leave. With a change of clothes placed in the bag first, she made her way into the bathroom, wherein she grabbed bandages and gauze. Another ability of hers was the ability to create and control fire which could leave her with burns since she was still inexperienced with the ability. She figured these things would also come in handy if anyone she met on the way or inside the QZ needed first aid. Although, most QZ's were expected to have basic medical supplies such as the ones she was going to be carrying. As she walked into the kitchen, she clipped her pocket knife to the waistband of her jeans and slid her Glock 27 into the thigh holster she wore essentially 24/7. In the kitchen, she grabbed the half-full water canteen from the countertop and slung it across her body before making her way back to the bathroom where she had left her bag. She pulled the bag over her shoulders and started for the door.

Her planned destination was Indianapolis since it was the closest outpost to her, but if she wasn't accepted there she planned on moving on to Columbus. Her looks could benefit her as long as the zombies didn't pick up on any other discrepancies between them and herself. As she made her way down to the lobby of the apartment complex, she was able to walk with a few zombies and pick up the subtleties of their gait as well as the noises they made as they moved. Clumsy creatures. I'm glad I didn't end up like that. Despite her confidence in her ability to blend in, she was still cautious and kept her left hand on her gun in its holster. From her complex on South Clark Street, Reese would find her way to I-94 Express East which was one of the few major roads on her journey to US-50 where she would truly be able to start for Indy.

The city rumbled behind her which caused her to whip her head around. Things just got interesting. After a few minutes of consideration, she decided to go towards the noise. If it was humans, she could just lip and drool in order to blend in. Although, they may try to take her stuff off of her if she did that in which case she would have to fight back, only then would she reveal that she was a META. Maybe people hadn't decided to go after them, but the state of the world revealed the darker nature of human beings which she knew enough about to know they would not hesitate to attack herself and others like her -- should there be others like her.
 
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"Just what the hell is that thing?"

"Damn, Skully, you didn't say your mom was in town!"

"Hey, asshole, how about you shut the fuck up and shoot."

The hooting and hollering of the men echoed against the buildings as another glass grenade was launched at the beast and it ragefully roared at the antagonists as its flames were doused in the liquid gas. Exhausted, the beast sluggishly lagged as it unsuccessfully attempted to muster enough energy for another charge against them. The men high-fived and prepared themselves to attack once again. Facing these ghastly mutations was fun for them, and they had garnered quite the reputation when it came to facing and seeking out these mutations. While they may not gain their information about these new sub-species in a morally correct way, they had managed to find out information as new mutations were found.​
"Your mom's bellybutton gets home fifteen-minutes before she does, ese!"

"I'm gonna shove you so far up that thing's asshole, you fuck--!"
This beast was a small game for them. What they were after was far more desired. After the vaccine had gone out, some people were found to have incredible abilities that were far from human. These special zombies had a high price on their heads, and they were found to be incredibly useful depending on their ability set. Out of all the mutations they had heard about, this particular type intrigued them because the zombies retained human memory which meant they were able to be worked and threatened like any other human, except they were capable of so much more.​
Many people thought that these mutations were far too dangerous, and those that became afflicted with new abilities had been kicked out of their respective QZ or killed in order to prevent them from attacking anybody or anything. This led to the hybrids hiding. While few sought them out, the META's knew just how dangerous things could become if they were found out.​
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"No, not that way!" As they exited the hotel and entered the alleyway, a man in green camo and gas mask came out of nowhere. Before the girls could figure out what was going on, he threw a Molotov cocktail at the end of the alleyway, where they could see a group of zombies blundering over to them. They immediately caught fire and moaned and groaned until they fell to the ground to never get back up. He lifted the mask away, his eyes were light and kind, but wild. The bearded young man was dirty, his hair was dreaded and disheveled, but he was probably around their own age, which was rare. Ten years ago, when the virus first broke out, many of them were still children, and not many children actually survived without a lot of help and protection of powerful groups, families, or the military. "Hurry! Come with me! I know a safe place." Will the girls decide to go?

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Reese continued towards where she had heard the sound, seeing red-orange light dancing in the same direction. Immediately she knew that it was fire, and she felt her body ache to be near it, to feel it. This feeling filled the pit of her stomach, mimicking the feeling of hunger, and the more she looked at it the faster she began to run. In her pupils, the fire continued to sway and twirl as if beckoning her to come dance alongside it.

As her footfalls became heavier she managed to snap out of the trance-like state the fire had put her in, and she slowed back down to a shuffle. Barely moving any faster than the dead that slumbered past her, and she berated herself for stooping this low. While she was almost certain nobody would notice her in the swarm even if she was moving a bit faster and thought that even if someone did notice her they wouldn't want to risk approaching her, she knew that somebody had to have caused the fire. The real zombies were not nearly intelligent enough to have done something of that caliber, and to her knowledge, the people out there like her were either murdered or in the shadows. Nobody, not even a regular human, would be stupid enough to draw that sort of attention to themselves when all sorts of things could become aware of them. Any attention seemed to be negative attention, yet here she was, like a mindless creature, pushing closer and closer to the building purely because she was curious about what was or had transpired there that caused the loud bang earlier. However, that proved her point about the fire and loud noises drawing attention that could be deemed undesirable towards these survivors, regardless of their species.

As she continued to near the block, she noticed that even the entirely zombified were making their way over to the building, and she suddenly doubted her choice. When people saw zombies they didn't show them sympathy, right? With Reese looking like a zombie it was utterly apparent to her that she was at a higher risk than others because what's to stop people from shooting at what they deem just another Z? It was because of this stark realization that she tucked into the shadows, opting to take a longer, less visible route to the building. In order to do this, she knew she would probably have to hoist herself into some broken windows, but at least she wouldn't be totally in the dark since she had her firepower to light the way. With one foot, she gently eased all of her weight into jagged glass that littered the bottom of an accessible window frame and repeated this until all of the pieces were out of her way. Still blocks from the fires she saw earlier, she felt secure in using her power in the open, and with one leg in the decrepit, pitch-black store, she allowed fire to bloom from her palm as if she was holding a lighter.

Still unused to the feeling, she had to jump the mental hurdle that would allow her to bear the pain. It made her anxious more than anything really. The fire caused her palm to tingle as if it had just been placed flat on the face of a hot clothing iron, but she had learned previously her flames do not leave sever injures. As long as she kept her usage, at least in this use case, to a minimum and allowed herself breaks, she probably wouldn't have to wrap her hand in the gauze and bandage that were in her bag. Her left hand that swung by her side was adorned in such medical wrappings due to an incident where she had used the idle fire for too long without a break. Luckily, that hand only had a few minor burns as opposed to the severe third-degree burn blisters that she would expect to see on a human being who had been wielding fire in the same way that she did.

To add to her unease about using her ability, the room was lifeless. The only sounds she heard were her own footsteps, but when she idled the room felt as if it could swallow her whole. She began to smell her skin burning and let out the flame, standing in the jet black silence for a bit. 'This is what purgatory must feel like,' she thought. If the situation would've been different surely she would've started making noise, but of course, if the situation was different, she wouldn't be in the shop the way it currently stood. After a couple of minutes, she allowed herself to reignite her hand and allowed herself to reflect on the reality of the world state by staring down the desolate isles wherein the tile was covered in dried blood, wrappers, shell casings, and coins. It showed how things became, how violent some people became in order to do what they thought would save them. That was the cruelty of humanity at its finest; everybody becoming selfish at the drop of a hat. It was almost poetic, but Reese made peace and continued moving towards her goal.
 
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The viser of the motorcycle helmet she still wore was a little scraped up but still worked. On it, she was able to magnify what was happening on the other side of the road. A nice little piece of tech the military sent her off with. She guessed they were good for something, even if she was practically their slave. There was a group of mismatched men attacking a giant metazombie. They only seemed to have one thing in common-- they wore a symbol of a wolf's head somewhere on their person; the Bad Wolves.

They were a ruthless bunch. While not being as barbaric as some of the strictly cannibalistic groups, they were not beyond submitting to cannibalism to survive hard times if they had to. But apparently it had been a while since then. They were surprisingly doing really well for themselves. They were one of the few surviving groups left with weapons and ammunition, and they ran just about every stop for survivors within a two hundred mile radius of "QZ-Chiraq" (Chicago). Everyone was afraid of them, and they were stupid not to be. Jade happened to be that kind of stupid.

What were there survivors still doing in the area? It might still be labeled as a Quarantine Zone, but hadn't they realized the military had cleared out of the city already? The second outbreak had been too much for them. According to reports, many survivors abandoned by the military were simply left to rot in their homes, some portions of the city quite literally being completely blocked from any possible escape. They didn't want to risk the second outbreak spreading to the outskirts of the city. Gee, how fudging humane was that? And where the H-E-Double-Hockey-Sticks was the logic?

A gun clicked behind her head and Jade immediately froze.

"Easy," a man's deep, dark husky voice could be heard, "hands up--, "Jade obliged, "--give me the gun." Jade didn't do anything as he snatched it from her hand. Frick! How the heck had he snuck up on her? "There we go, now take off the helmet," he ordered, "slowly. I don't wanna have to shoot you." Oh, how freaking sweet, my knight in shining armor has arrived! Jade sighed, and slowly began to remove the helmet. Just as she raised it over her head, whiplashed around and shattered it against his gun, causing it to go off as he pulled the trigger. It dropped on the ground, Jade turned to kick him square on the side, but he rolled and was back on his feet quickly, holding his now broken hand. "Ow!"

Jade smiled sheepishly, "My bad." Scooping up the gun on the ground, Jade ran, barely missing a sniper's bullet as she ducked down to grab it. She hid behind a van, gasping for breath, mostly lost out of being caught by surprise. They didn't mean to hit her. If they did, she'd be dead. They just wanted to spook her, and it worked. Even so, Jade might be dealing with more than she bargained for. "Are you freaking serious right now?"
 
Reese ducked into another building letting the flame die as she did so. There was far too much noise occurring in the areas around her for her to feel anywhere near safe. The darkness that had previously filled her with unease now beckoned for her to return as she made her way out of the building and into a tight, cluttered alleyway. She could smell embers and gunpowder - 'gunpowder?' That must mean that something had been shot at nearby, but the scent was too weak to have been from multiple rounds of fire, and she had only been able to hear one which meant somebody was a damn good shot or there was an intent behind the shot they fired. Unfortunately, her improved senses didn't include sight, so she could only survey a small amount unless she wanted to risk putting herself in harm's way.

Momentarily, she considered shedding her bag in a building to return to later and dirtying her clothes in order to survey a broader amount of land, but ultimately she decided against it. Instead, she tore some fabric from a real corpse and lit it up, tossing it into the trashcan in front of her before making her way into the next building in the line. This fire not only offered the inside of the building the comforts of its soft glow, but it also could intrigue somebody to approach and potentially investigate. By lurking in the shadows of the vast lower story of her current dwelling, she would be able to see who approached should they come close enough. The flames offered too much light to the building to allow her a nearby position, but she figured it was for the best. Maybe she couldn't see as well, but by being further from what may come after her she gave herself more chance of survival since it was unlikely somebody could gain on her enough to bridge such a gap.

The fire's and explosions from earlier were no longer her priority since something had transpired closer. Still, she wondered if the people she had the potential of crossing paths with were those from the earlier incidents. If they had chosen to move so quickly despite the growing attention of Z's that meant they had balls, were stupid, or they had a prey item they cared more about finding. All of these answers had their own concerns tacked on to them, but the last one was the most frightening. While Reese had remained in her apartment, deemed undead by her floor-mates, she had overheard conversations about others like her, META's they called them. Except, when they spoke about them they sounded far from accepting or intrigued. The voices spoke in stressed, rushed sentences, and the end consensus made it seem like they feared for their lives even though a threat had yet to be posed against them. It wasn't long after that a clip of gunfire went off in rapid succession. That night, Reese looked out into the dimly lit streets and saw them, human in appearance, yet they were face down in a pool of their own blood. It was then that she realized how careful she had to be because -- not only did she appear to be a zombie -- her abilities being discovered was enough reason to execute her no matter what she had been doing. That's why today she had stuck to the shadows. Just because the city lacked military didn't mean it lacked mercenaries or gangs. After all, they had been left here to rot, what else were they to become?
Possible interaction with: @The Speaker
 
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"No, not that way!" As they exited the hotel and entered the alleyway, a man in green camo and gas mask came out of nowhere. Before the girls could figure out what was going on, he threw a Molotov cocktail at the end of the alleyway, where they could see a group of zombies blundering over to them. They immediately caught fire and moaned and groaned until they fell to the ground to never get back up. He lifted the mask away, his eyes were light and kind, but wild. The bearded young man was dirty, his hair was dreaded and disheveled, but he was probably around their own age, which was rare. Ten years ago, when the virus first broke out, many of them were still children, and not many children actually survived without a lot of help and protection of powerful groups, families, or the military. "Hurry! Come with me! I know a safe place." Will the girls decide to go?

Seulgi grabbed onto Pandora as she heard a voice, stopping her from running out of the alley. She ducked, pulling Pandora along with her to avoid the molotov cocktail flying over their heads.
"Shit--" Pandora muttered as she watched the zombies stumble their way towards them, seeming unperturbed by the fire enveloping them. That was until they collapsed, of course. She pulled Seulgi behind her as the man spoke, frowning. Did this guy know what he was doing? Was he military? Would he take Seulgi away once he realised what she was? She looked behind them, they couldn't exactly go through the wall of fire he'd created. She took a deep breath before tugging on Seulgi's arm.
"C'mon." She told her, jogging over to the man.
 
The dirty man store purposefully, with the gait of someone confident of their goal, though they lacked a clue. Walk any faster and the temptation to run would consume them. A nice, steady pace served best. His smile was forced, bland, a coherence off young wrinkles drawing his brows together. He’d purposely lure them into the winding, confusing alleyways to their advantage, every hesitation and uncertainty playing into their hands. The two girls would find themselves trapped between two groups of three men, some with guns, some with makeshift spiked baseball bats, some with rope, all masked, all branding the symbol of an angry wolf. The man turned on them and gave a sad smile. He had but a small part to play in this game, but it gave him no joy. Such were the rules of survival. @Spiraea

The reflections of the windows revealed the blurred shapes of her pursuers, one across the street, paralleling her, two far behind, about half-block distance, just far enough away from reaching her scent. Several others were ahead, Waiting to see where she would go. Each dropping back when they do much as thought she might be onto them. She wasn’t. How could they know, even suspect? Well, it had been nothing but a waiting game for them. The only ones who could possibly be left in the abandoned city, who would be stupid enough to stay long after the bodies rotted in their homes, were the ones worth waiting for. Of course they knew the city better than she. They no longer lived in the times where nothing could happen in broad daylight. When the girl thought she was alone, they struck. Bottles of thin and fragile glass were thrown into the room shattering on impact,the extinguishing contents spraying everywhere. Smoke bombs were also thrown into the room with the bottles. Men entered the room from every entrance and exit, blocking off any possible escape. @nico
 
With all the contaminants in the air, Reese knew it was too risky to start up any flames. Plus, if the bodies that now surrounded her were out for her kind, she didn't want to make it easier for them to figure out what her main ability was if they hadn't figured it out already. 'Good job me. Real lowkey starting a fire and then camping in the building next to it.' Maybe they hadn't seen how she lit the fire that was meant to draw attention. Little did she know, there was already attention on here. There had been for ages. Part of her wondered if she should just lie and say that she was passing through and got caught up in all the surrounding noise, but what had hinted that these people cared about any of that. They had thrown their attacks on without even so much as a word. Besides, with the way she looked, there was no real way to get away with "just passing through".

Her feet pushed her until her back was against the chill of the painted over glass. Maybe if she looked another way she would consider fight or flight, but at the time being there didn't seem to be much for her to do. She couldn't even muster up the words to provoke them, instead sliding her gun out of its place. At least she would be able to get some self-defense in if nothing else.

@The Speaker
 
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"Wouldn't do that if I was you, sweetheart," warned a menacing voice from her left. If she noticed, she was currently surrounded by men with rifles and pistols, "do the smart thing," Perhaps the girl should have taken a chance on using fire. It might have been blown around the room by the force of the CO2 gas, thereby aiding its power and allowing it to spread more effectively than on her own. The CO2 gas made the air close to the girl to below freezing temperatures, causing shivers if she felt things such as cold. If she so much as lifted the gun, they'd shoot it out of her hand and she'd be immediately tazed. Following the man's words, they didn't hesitate to grab the girl to hold down and restrain her, taking her gun, and knocking her out with the butt of a rifle. If she put up a fight, however... @nico
 
Reese held still, deciding it was in her best interest to let the men take her. If she were to use her power and somebody saw or someone made it out, it could make things much worse for her. The smell of the gas made her head spin, and as the men restrained her she focused on that. Without emitting any real flames, she allowed her skin to get as hot as it could without lighting. This would make the precedent drop in temperature due to the gas less uncomfortable, and it would probably cause some level of discomfort to the men grabbing her. Before she could consider doing anything more extreme the edges of her vision went black, and she could feel her body give before everything went completely dark.

@The Speaker
 
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The dirty man store purposefully, with the gait of someone confident of their goal, though they lacked a clue. Walk any faster and the temptation to run would consume them. A nice, steady pace served best. His smile was forced, bland, a coherence off young wrinkles drawing his brows together. He’d purposely lure them into the winding, confusing alleyways to their advantage, every hesitation and uncertainty playing into their hands. The two girls would find themselves trapped between two groups of three men, some with guns, some with makeshift spiked baseball bats, some with rope, all masked, all branding the symbol of an angry wolf. The man turned on them and gave a sad smile. He had but a small part to play in this game, but it gave him no joy. Such were the rules of survival. @Spiraea

Pandora held onto Seulgi tightly, their hands clasped together as they followed the man leading them away, but the further they walked, the more anxious Pandora became. Seulgi could feel her grip tighten in panic as they entered the labrynth of alleys. She took a deep breath, looking down at her small companion. She stopped abruptly, deciding enough was enough, but as she turned to lead her friend away, she was met by a group of armed men. She turned once more, only to find more of them.
"Shit..." She whispered, grabbing Seulgi's shoulders.
"Hold on..." Seulgi signed, glancing over her shoulder at Pandora. She glanced between the two groups before thrusting her arms out, pushing wind towards them in an attempt to knock them off their feet.
"Go, go!" Pandora yelled, taking her hand once more as the two attempted to sprint through one of the groups.
 
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Black considered several options. She could let them have her. Sure, the guy with the hand she'd crushed could easily be taken care of, and managing to get away from the sniper's eye wouldn't be too hard--for her, anyway.

Before she could finish deciding on a course of action, however, guy-with-crushed-hand decided for her. As he lifted up the gun he had taken from her, she lifted the gun she'd stole from him; he pulled the trigger but found that it wouldn't pull. "Fingerprint locked, assbutt," she said, before shooting five bullets into his torso. Boom! Another gift from the sharpshooter. Zap! Black rushed to retrieve her gun, then back in their direction, a firebolt crackling from where she had once stood. She found them on the roof of the building, naturally, still looking for her down below. "Peekaboo," they turned. attempting to grab a weapon at her side, but Black shot first.

By that point, she'd gotten the attention of the zombie killers below. They had followed the electric discharge she'd left behind into the building. Black zapped her way back down, fighting each of them on the stairwell, one-on-one, before exiting the building. After looting the corpses of spare bullets, and tradable goods, which wasn't much. Black sighed. Just another group of regular, low-level thugs. Where were all the tough guys? Just as she was about to leave the building, she saw a group of new men scanning the area, calling for their friends. Jade ducked down to avoid being seen. Shoot.

Reese would be carried off and locked into a metal chest in the back of the men's truck, who immediately began to make their way back to the group waiting for them on the highway. It would only take them a minute to arrive, and if she had regained consciousness, Reese would hear them questioning where the group had gone. They ordered a single man to stay with the META and the rest of them wandered off to search for their missing companions. @nico

Seulgi triumphantly blew the men off of their feet, but not all. Some managed to gather their bearings quickly enough to quickly stop the girls from successfully barreling through the group. The girls were suddenly grabbed and forcibly pinned down, the men disregarding any discretion with the knowledge that these were a couple of METAs, and were therefore highly dangerous. Any noises from the girls would be met with more violent aggression and ruthless jeers. One man violently spat into Seulgi's ear as he cruelly squeezed down on her pinned arm: "Try that again, you'll wish you'd never been born, you little bitch." If the girls stopped resisting, they would make their way over to the group waiting for them around the truck.... would they attempt to flee, again? @Spiraea
 
Seulgi wriggled against their grip as she was pinned to the ground, wincing as her arm was bent in a way it probably shouldn't be. She could hear Pandora screaming, making as much ruckus as she could to try and draw attention to themselves. She'd kick her feet, shaking her head to try and get the spit off of her cheek.
"SEULGI!" Pandora yelled as she struggled as best she could. She wasn't a META, they'd have no reason to take her, right? If she could get Seulgi out of there, surely they'd be fine, right? She spat at the guards in some form of avengement for her friend.
Wind whipped around Seulgi's hair as she was pulled to her feet. She pushed against the guards surrounding her, causing Pandora to stumble beside her. The wind grew stronger as panic rose within her, but stopped abruptly as she was met with a sharp punch to the face by one of the men. They took her by the hair and marched the two of them to the truck.
 
Reese came to slowly, her eyes already adjusted to the darkness she was surrounded by. Her position in the crate had her joints already aching as she felt around to see how much space she had. If she started a fire it could not only catch her clothes, but if somebody was nearby watching she would alert them to her escape. Once her hands brushed the edge of the crate, she could feel the cold of metal which meant her power was rendered essentially useless. It seemed silent around her which meant there was either very few people or none at all, and she could tell that she was stationary. She drew her knee into her chest as far as it could go and kicked the bottom of the crate, her knee and ankle angry with her almost immediately. She began to worry about what would happen to her.

@The Speaker
 
Immediately, Black's mind began to burn with questions. These guys were clearly trying to take them all in alive, no matter how many of them she personally took out. These guys, whoever was in charge of them, were clearly expendable thugs meant to do the dirty work. Black could kill them all right then and there, and get away with Reese. That was all she was being paid to do. That was all that mattered, right? But... Wherever the METAs were being taken... what if there were more? Was there something she could do about it? Damn her bleeding heart.

Black stepped out from behind the car with her hands in the air and a wry smirk on her face. "Hey, guys! What's up?"

Black was predictably thrown in a metal crate. As was Seulgi and Pandora. The truck started and drove for approximately twenty minutes before stopping. The crates were carried by the men into a building. Then, an elevator took them deep below the surface of the city, and into a series of underground halls. The crates were left stacked on top of each other in a storage room with many similar crates and cages, some of which had other people--or METAs-- inside.

"Hello?" Black called. "Anybody there?"

@Spiraea @nico
 
Seulgi reached for the lid as they shut it, but was too late. She tried to catch her breath as she crawled to the end of the crate, trying to find any crack of light she could see through. She bumped into the side, whimpering as she sat against the wall, hopeless. She could feel each movement of the box as it slid slightly in the truck as it turned corners and sped down the road. She felt it rock as she was carried inside and the familiar drop in her stomach from an elevator. She swallowed, the only thing audible was her breath.
She jumped as she heard a voice, pressing her hands and her ear against the side of the crate.

Pandora sat up with a start at the sound of a voice.
"Hello!?" She called out, her eyes darting around the darkness. She took a deep breath, unsure what to do. Were there even air holes in this thing? She had a million questions rushing through her head, how many others were in here? Was Seulgi here, too? She tried to steady her breathing. If there was limited oxygen, she had to make it last.

@nico
 
Ashford could hear them before they came in. The unmistakable sound of real hearts beating in their chests. They left the crates stacked in the corner, but not for long. Some of them came back to put them in the cages. The crates were brought in, and they locked them in before pressing a button, unlocking the lids and allowing the METAs out. When they were gone, there was a single heartbeat left. It made him drool.

Jade began tugging on a collar they had put on her (and on the rest of them). It was tight and uncomfortable, and she didn't like it very much. She would soon come to find they prevented her from using her powers.

"No point in doing that, my friend," a man's voice came from the darkness. "Those things are impossible to take off. And believe you me, I've tried."

It was impossible to tell how long the META had been in the cage. Ashford could only count the time based on how many fights he'd been in. Otherwise, it had been a long time since he knew what day it was. He used to keep track of the days with tally marks on the ground, since there were no walls in his cage, only bars. And since they didn't give him much people food, he was always hungry.

"Eh...Who're you? What is this place?" Jade asked, testing the bars with a kick.

"The name's Ashford," he shrugged, but it could hardly be seen in the darkness, "and you're in the Underground. You're their weapon now, so you might as well start getting comfortable."

Jade threw her head back and laughed as if Ashford had told the greatest joke in the world.

"Ah, I like you, Ashford," she said between chuckles. "You're a funny man."

"Man?"
He scoffed. "I haven't been a man in who knows how long..."

"Dude. There ain't no way in hell they're keeping me in here. When I get out of here, you're coming with me. All of you."

"Yeah... like I haven't heard that one before, kid. Alls that I can say is... good luck."


A human girl? He couldn't help himself. They hadn't fed him in a long time and he was beginning to like the sound of fresh meat, again. Zombie mode was never fun, but it was out of his control. So when the human girl crawled out of the crate, Ashford was pressed against the bars of his. She smelled so nice. His stomach growled, and his eyes were crazed and wide with hunger.

"Look what the cats dragged in," he purred. "Fresh. meat."

@nico @Spiraea
 
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Pandora gasped as the crate opened, scrambling out and panting softly. She scanned the area, finding herself in a cage and surrounded by other, identical cages. She frantically searched, crawling up to the front of her cage.
"Seulgi?" She whispered, sighing in relief as her little friend crawled out of the crate in the cage beside her.
"Oh, Seulgi..." She muttered at the sight of Seulgi's collar, the two shuffling to the edge of their cages closest to each other.

However, she froze as she heard an animalistic growl, turning to face a very hungry looking man. She didn't like the way he was looking at her... She turned to Seulgi, swallowing.
"We'll be fine, okay?" She whispered, but her voice didn't seem sure. Seulgi hesitated before nodding in response, however, they both knew that if Pandora were to survive, it was Seulgi's turn to protect them both.

In the corner was Minyoung, gently rocking back and forth. Her stomach hurt so much, but she couldn't give in and eat anyone. She hugged her knees to her chest, trying to suppress the growls of her stomach as she shut her eyes tightly. She couldn't look at any humans, it hurt too much. Her sister was human, she wouldn't be able to face her if she ate someone... and she missed her so very much... but she could smell them and she wanted them so badly. She couldn't think straight anymore, she was just so tired, even her thoughts were slurred, just like her voice.

As she heard the promise of freedom, her head shot up. She shuffled to the front of her cage.
"P-Please... I'm so hungry..." She pleaded with Jade, her face pale, her eyelids drooping.
 
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